


Twilight Hours

by faithinthepoor



Series: Desperate Housewives [37]
Category: Desperate Housewives
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-16
Updated: 2014-07-16
Packaged: 2018-02-09 01:24:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1963728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faithinthepoor/pseuds/faithinthepoor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set post It Takes Two</p>
            </blockquote>





	Twilight Hours

**Author's Note:**

> Follows [Unseemly](http://archiveofourown.org/works/668467), [The Theory of Everything](http://archiveofourown.org/users/faithinthepoor), [Here There Be Dragons](http://archiveofourown.org/works/673221), [Somnambulist](http://archiveofourown.org/works/673229), [Wishin’ and Hopin’](http://archiveofourown.org/works/673233), [Nosology](http://archiveofourown.org/works/673238), [Boundary Violations](http://archiveofourown.org/works/673240), [Fractals](http://archiveofourown.org/works/673250), [Windmill Tilting](http://archiveofourown.org/works/673255), [Ambitendency](http://archiveofourown.org/works/673262), [Heisenberg Territory](http://archiveofourown.org/works/673272), [The Illusions of Prisms](http://archiveofourown.org/works/673700), [Keratitis Sicca](http://archiveofourown.org/works/682311), [Schrödinger’s Realm](http://archiveofourown.org/works/682327), [Chiaroscuro](http://archiveofourown.org/works/682358), [Altered Trajectories](http://archiveofourown.org/works/682370), [Elegiacs](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1952136), [Tachyphylaxis](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1952244), [Verismo](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1953516), [Forced Perspective](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1953594), [Lex Talionis](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1953624), [Repetition Compulsion](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1953663), [Cardioid Geometry](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1953693), [Mereology](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1959777), [Battlelines](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1960131), [Enteropathy](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1960167), [Abnegation](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1960179), [Lichtenberg Figures](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1960806), [Paradoxes](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1960851), [Plastic Deformation](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1963329), [Hawthorne and Rosenthal Dilemmas](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1963419), [Egodystonic](http://archiveofourown.org/works/196345), [Regional Anaesthesia](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1963512), [Antinomy](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1963539), [Theophobia](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1963584) and [Epistemology](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1963686)

Weddings are strange things, they are the ultimate example of how you can believe that everything is better if you view the glass as half full instead of half empty. They are seen as a celebration and while there are definitely things to celebrate, people seldom seem to consider that there are also many things to be mourned. They are a birth and a death, the beginning of a life that occurs at the expense of two others. As she sits here beside her new husband she can’t help but think about the things that are ending, how so many things are disappearing today, their loss obscured by a veil of tulle and lace. Some of the deaths are more obvious than others, as of now Bree Van de Kamp is no more but taking Orson’s name changes so much more than her moniker. She will no longer be known as Rex’s wife nor will she be his widow, she now is defined by her relationship to Orson. She is a dentist’s wife now and not a doctor’s. She has become the sort of person who is willing to organize a wedding in a matter of weeks rather than giving it the time and attention that it deserves. In short she is not the person that she was before.

In a way she supposes that this was the point, that the rushed nuptials were designed to make a significant change, to burry past mistakes. It’s not as though getting married suddenly makes her slate as pure and white as her dress but it was meant to help remove some of the stains. Her new husband was meant to help people forget the men who had come before him. Her spouse was going to help atone for the scandal and shame that Rex, George and Peter brought to her life. Somewhere in her rapid fire wedding plans there should have been the decision to do a thorough background check on her husband to be but by the time she learnt that Orson was suspected of murder she had already announced their engagement to the world and she wasn’t about to back down, wasn’t about to admit that she’d made an error.

She can’t pretend that she doesn’t have doubts about Orson’s innocence, she lost that right to make that claim when she halted the ceremony but what Orson doesn’t seem to understand is that the source of the doubt lies within herself. It would seem that she has no judgement whatsoever when it comes to men. She lived with Rex for years, slept in the bed beside him, gave him children and shared his life and she had no idea that he was a perverted sex fiend just as she had no awareness of the evil in Andrew or George until they spelt it out for her in graphic detail. Given her track record there is every likelihood that Orson is a cold blooded killer but if that is indeed the case it is no more than she deserves.

This whole charade should make her feel like a hypocrite, it goes against everything that she has ever believed in and yet whatever her concerns are about today hypocrisy is not among them. She held firm beliefs about weddings, as she holds firm beliefs about most things, but they were challenged by her thoughts of adultery and then killed by Rex’s dramatic and public display of infidelity. She has had the dream wedding but it didn’t lead to the dream marriage, it led to pain and disappointment and death. She knows better now and so she feels it’s a good thing that Orson isn’t the man of her dreams. He may have his faults but thus far he’s been kind to her and even if he is a murderer, there is no husband standing in his way so it’s unlikely to impact significantly on her life. His expertise in the cleaning department both arouses her and gives her cause for concern – perhaps it’s for the best that Andrew isn’t around anymore. This wedding is about compatibility and comfort and she hopes that means security and longevity. She’s married for love before and the results of that have encouraged her to take a more practical approach this time around.

Whilst she has given up on marrying for love she does wonder if she got to marry the love of her life, she knows that is not something that everybody gets to do and to be honest she is not sure if she’s on the list of those who have or those who haven’t. She does know that Orson isn’t the love of her life, the problem is that she doesn’t know if it was Rex or if it’s the woman standing next to Tom downing wine at an alarming rate. Even if Lynette is the one, it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t give them a future. In a way that’s what this whole wedding fiasco was about, about placing the final nail in the coffin of a relationship that can not be and yet refuses to die. She chose this path, she did this to protect them both, to spare them pain so why does her mouth go dry and her chest seem empty every time she looks at Lynette?

Lynette doesn’t seem to be enjoying the proceedings but is appears to have little to do with Bree and her choice in husband, Lynette seems completely focused on saving her own marriage. During the course of the evening she has watched her neighbour more times than she cares to admit and Lynette’s attention has always been on Nora. Bree has to wonder what happened to her ordered little life because the old Bree would not have allowed her lover’s husband’s former one night stand to have made it onto the guest list for her wedding. She was aware that Nora was coming, was aware that Lynette had taken it upon herself to make a notable addition to the seating chart but she didn’t confront her about it. It would have been easy to refuse to have the woman at the wedding but that would have led to an argument and she wasn’t going to let Lynette push her buttons. Besides, she wouldn’t have won the argument; Lynette seems a lot more at peace with the idea of this wedding than she should be. Not once did Lynette protest the decision or try to talk her out of it and she mutely accepted her role as bridesmaid. She did object to the dress but then they all did and while she was a member of the “Perhaps you shouldn’t marry a murderer” group she was just a back up singer.

Bree’s not sure what she wanted from Lynette, a fact that became clear to her when they spoke this morning. Lynette had come over early and didn’t appear to have had much sleep. She had apparently let herself in and was sitting on the sofa when Bree came down for breakfast.

“Lynette,” it wasn’t her most eloquent moment.

“It’s your wedding day.”

“I know,” champagne conversation it was not.

“So I guess I should say congratulations?”

“I don’t want you to say anything that you don’t want.”

Lynette let out a snort, “What I want is to have my life back.”

“I’m trying to give you that.”

“By marrying someone else?”

“Thank you.”

“For what,” she looked adorably puzzled.

“For not bringing up the fact that he’s suspected of a heinous crime.”

“Oh that, he’s a man that your marrying, it almost goes without saying.”

“And what does that say about you?” she struggled to keep calm, she was not going to let Lynette spoil this day for her.

“I don’t fall into that category.”

“I’ll think you’ll find that you do.”

“You never offered to marry me.”

She sat next to Lynette on the couch and placed a kiss on her temple, all in all not the kind of behaviour she should be exhibiting hours before she was to marry someone else. She took Lynette’s left hand and absently twisted the rings that she found there, “Baby, that was never an option, you were never available.”

“So you’re saying if Tom didn’t exist you wouldn’t be marrying Orson today?”

“In a way.”

“That’s not true.”

She’ll never be able to convince Lynette that, in part, this wedding is for her and that she is trying to protect her, trying to give her her life back, “I don’t want to argue with you.”

“Me neither, to be honest, I’m not really sure what I am doing here.”

“Perhaps you are here because you’re my friend and this is an important day for me?”

“Unlikely.”

“Fair enough,” she looked down at their linked hands.

“I think I came to say goodbye I had a whole speech planned out but I don’t think I can do it.”

“We have to stop this.”

“I know,” by this point Lynette’s head was resting on her shoulder.

“I’m getting married today.”

“It hadn’t escaped my attention but I’m not sure that it means anything, it just puts as back to square one.”

“It means something because I can’t do this anymore, I won’t do this anymore.”

Lynette pulled away, “Fine, look for me today, I’ll be the one in the less than flattering dress whose heart is breaking.”

“Lynette don’t…” but she had already gone.

She doesn’t think that Lynette lived up to her promise, she seemed to cope with the wedding just fine, what she didn’t seem to cope with was Nora. She shouldn’t be surprised that Lynette was responsible for a little commotion at the reception but was does surprise her is the cause of the disturbance and how much it hurts her to see Lynette run off after Gabby and not stay until the end of proceedings. Bree doesn’t want to admit it but she thinks she’s made a huge mistake. The fact that Orson is sitting beside her seething because she dared to question his innocence doesn’t help but it’s more than that, it’s the realisation that for her the light went out of the room when Lynette left and that she has cursed herself to a world of darkness


End file.
